$1.19 Car of the Week #1-Porsche 914

Click to see lifesize

C O L L E C T I O N — I like to peruse the "accessories" aisles in the local grocery store, you know, the ones with all the gadgets, and markers, and batteries, and paper, and duct tape and toys. While pretty much curbing the 1/18 and 1/24 cravings lately, I'm a sucker for an accurately scaled, relatively obscure production car rendered in Matchbox/Johnny Lightning size—which I'm pretty sure is 1/87. This week I found an early Porsche 914, with stock-appearing wheels (small hubcaps and trim rings) painted head- and taillamps (one of my 'musts'), and the 914's optional exterior group, with the black vinyl B pillar/hoop. This is exactly the type of small car I like. It fits all my current criteria, and it was all of $1.19. I bought two so I can spread the joy to someone else someday.

A T   L E A S T   T H E   D O O R S   W E R E   C L O S E D  — I've ridden in an original 914 just once. I was in junior-high, and was spending the afternoon with a friend at her house, sneaking looks at  "Everything You  Always Wanted to Know about Sex, But Were Afraid to Ask,"a mega best-selling book of the day, lol, but not one found in the home I grew up in. Her father, a bit of a local celebrity being the weatherman on the local TV station, had just bought a new, and very orange, 914. It was a base model from what I remember, with the painted B pillar and hoop. When he asked if I'd like to ride in the Porsh, I dropped the book in a New York second. He squeezed his daughter and I in the passenger side of the almost-three seat bench/bucket affair, and we took off around town, the little 4 cylinder engine not particularly noteworthy in any way. No  seatbelts were used, no airbags were in sight, the driver was chain-smoking Luckys, and the car didn't have any impact-absorbing bumpers. I'm here to say we all made it home in one piece and lived to tell the tale. It was the last time I saw that book, too. Maybe eBay. . .

C H O P — A somewhat tongue-in-cheek concept of a modern-day 914. Adhering strictly to period cues, while working with a contemporary body, often results in a slightly anachronistic yet, more-times-than-not, endearing chop. This little Porsche has that "Please bring me home" sort of puppy appeal to it.